There’s been quite a bit of buzz lately regarding hotel cancellation policies including this recent article.
I know (from firsthand past experience) that a number of hotels use cancellation and no show charges as revenue “builders” instead of revenue “safeguards” which is NOT in keeping with the spirit and intent of those policies. Cancellation policies are (or should be) designed to protect the hotel from losing business at the expense of customers who “change their mind”. The key words are “protect” and “losing”. These policies are not meant to be used to rack-up charges when someone has a legitimate reason for not honoring their reservation, especially when the room is going to go empty. As this article points out, think twice before you stand fast and tall on your cancellation soap box. People have too many choices to be “understanding” when we lack compassion and see things only in black and white.